Kingdom 103: Staying Focused on Kingdom Priorities
One of the reasons the concept of the Kingdom of God is difficult to grasp at first is that understanding it calls for a complete change of thinking. Another reason is that it takes focus and determination to leave the religious way of thinking. Our religious mindset is deeply ingrained in our upbringing. That level of focus entails making an evaluation of your association with others and seeking out Kingdom minded people.
I realize moving from a religious or worldly mindset to a Kingdom mindset is a huge change, but it is a process. The Lord Jesus had the same situation with His disciples. In the time of a crisis, the Lord Jesus addressed their faith in Him. Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” Throughout the Lord Jesus' time on earth, He stayed focused on His purpose and mission, assigned by His Father God. While healing the sick and opening two blind men's eyes, the Lord Jesus knew His priorities. He stayed on point with the Kingdom message. Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Keep in mind, many of the things that this world system values most are considered worthless in the Kingdom of God. Standards for evaluating greatness are very different between the world system and the Kingdom. The world judges greatness in terms of how much money, power and influence you have, while the Kingdom sees it in humility and selfless service. In fact, I must say that the world system evaluates an individual by their financial worth. That is Satan's measuring stick, not God's. Sad, but true! The Kingdom of God and the world system are polar opposites in regard to our possessions and our worth. The Lord Jesus spoke of this to the rich young ruler. Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”
Notice that the Lord didn't tell him to go pay his tithes or help build a new church building. He said for the rich young ruler to sell ALL he had and give to those in need. His willingness or unwillingness to do that would show who or what was truly his god. It shows what he values most in his life.
In order to stay focused, one must learn to concentrate on the information they are to learn. That takes discipline and perseverance. That is what the Lord Jesus had in every way. He was constant in His purpose and His assignment, given to Him by His Father. We must learn to be that focused. We are a society that is driven by distractions. We are too easily pulled away from the Kingdom message by other "good" things. Distracting messages--distracting causes--distracting injustices. There will always be evil and injustices in the world, but we cannot allow that to distract us from our mission to spread the Kingdom message that Jesus preached. That is our priority; that is our purpose. The only justice and peace there is for this fallen world is through our total focus on spreading Jesus' Kingdom message. His Word brings peace and order to the chaos of this world!
I will close with this: It takes focus, effort and consistency to believe in the Lord Jesus and the Kingdom message He preached and modeled. Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Always remember, our greatest asset is our faith in the Lord Jesus.
Matthew 8:23-27; 9:35-38 Luke 18:18-24 John 6:28-29
~~W.R. Luchie
I realize moving from a religious or worldly mindset to a Kingdom mindset is a huge change, but it is a process. The Lord Jesus had the same situation with His disciples. In the time of a crisis, the Lord Jesus addressed their faith in Him. Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” Throughout the Lord Jesus' time on earth, He stayed focused on His purpose and mission, assigned by His Father God. While healing the sick and opening two blind men's eyes, the Lord Jesus knew His priorities. He stayed on point with the Kingdom message. Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Keep in mind, many of the things that this world system values most are considered worthless in the Kingdom of God. Standards for evaluating greatness are very different between the world system and the Kingdom. The world judges greatness in terms of how much money, power and influence you have, while the Kingdom sees it in humility and selfless service. In fact, I must say that the world system evaluates an individual by their financial worth. That is Satan's measuring stick, not God's. Sad, but true! The Kingdom of God and the world system are polar opposites in regard to our possessions and our worth. The Lord Jesus spoke of this to the rich young ruler. Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”
Notice that the Lord didn't tell him to go pay his tithes or help build a new church building. He said for the rich young ruler to sell ALL he had and give to those in need. His willingness or unwillingness to do that would show who or what was truly his god. It shows what he values most in his life.
In order to stay focused, one must learn to concentrate on the information they are to learn. That takes discipline and perseverance. That is what the Lord Jesus had in every way. He was constant in His purpose and His assignment, given to Him by His Father. We must learn to be that focused. We are a society that is driven by distractions. We are too easily pulled away from the Kingdom message by other "good" things. Distracting messages--distracting causes--distracting injustices. There will always be evil and injustices in the world, but we cannot allow that to distract us from our mission to spread the Kingdom message that Jesus preached. That is our priority; that is our purpose. The only justice and peace there is for this fallen world is through our total focus on spreading Jesus' Kingdom message. His Word brings peace and order to the chaos of this world!
I will close with this: It takes focus, effort and consistency to believe in the Lord Jesus and the Kingdom message He preached and modeled. Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Always remember, our greatest asset is our faith in the Lord Jesus.
Matthew 8:23-27; 9:35-38 Luke 18:18-24 John 6:28-29
~~W.R. Luchie
